Former Executive Chef O’Leary Appointed President of All-Women Lexington College
The Lexington College Board of Directors recently announced the appointment of Professor Kelly O’Leary as president of Lexington College. For the past three years, O’Leary has served on the faculty in the Hospitality Management Department. Since July, she has served as vice president of the college.
O’Leary has a passion for building culture by educating and inspiring the next generation of women. She was selected as the ideal candidate to shepherd Lexington College through its imminent growth phase due to her years of experience in leading, training and developing young women. The Board of Directors is confident that she will be an inspirational guiding force for students, faculty and staff.
O’Leary holds a master’s degree in gastronomy from Boston University and a bachelor’s degree in music from Furman University. She also received professional training at The Culinary Institute of America. She has written several significant papers including her master’s thesis, “The Flouring of New England: Wheat and Its Function in the Lives and Loaves of Colonial Americans.”
As co-founder and executive director of the Art of Living, O’Leary built an international skills-building program for high-school girls. Her previous professional experience includes work at Montrose School in Boston, Van Ness Study Center in Washington, D.C., and Arnold Hall Conference Center in Pembroke, Mass. Prior to joining Lexington College, she served as executive chef and general manager for Bayridge University Center in Boston. Throughout her career, she has dedicated significant time to educating young women in the skills of service, culinary arts, fashion, home health and interior design.
With her background in culinary arts, gastronomy and hospitality, and the relation of these fields to women building culture, O’Leary is considered uniquely poised to oversee not only Lexington’s growth, but the growing impact of the college on society.
Not every chef who steps into the kitchen is ready for the challenge of competition in front of the camera. New England Culinary Institute graduate Sean Quinn (’01) recently beat out the competition on Food Network’s culinary-competition show, “Chopped.” Quinn is also a graduate of C-CAP (Careers through Culinary Arts Program), designed to prepare high-school students for college and career opportunities in the hospitality industry. The scholarship he received through C-CAP allowed him to attend New England Culinary Institute and eventually led him to become executive chef at Chadwick’s in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he has been for seven years.
The American Personal & Private Chef Association (APPCA) recently honored four chefs with Awards of Excellence at the 2013 APPCA Personal Chef Summit at Stratford University in Baltimore.
$1,000 Grand Prize and $500 Runner-up prize, instructor incentives. Sponsored by the National Honey Board (NHB) in partnership with “The Gold Medal Classroom.”
Peter Lehmuller, Ed.D., has been appointed dean of the College of Culinary Arts at Johnson & Wales University (effective July 1, 2013). He was most recently the dean of Academic Affairs at the university’s Charlotte campus and has relocated to the university’s flagship campus in Providence, R.I.
Entries in the 2013 Discover Duck Recipe Contest prove great tastes come in small packages. Sponsored by Maple Leaf Farms, the annual contest challenged professional chefs and culinary students to produce an original appetizer or small plate recipe showcasing Maple Leaf Farms duck. Nearly 250 entries from across the country were submitted, competing for more than $15,000 in cash prizes.
Thomas Recinella, CEC, ACE, AAC, program director for Baker College of Port Huron’s Culinary Institute of Michigan, has been inducted into membership of the prestigious Disciples Escoffier International-USA.